Burma’s president to make historic US visit

YANGON, Burma (AP) — Burma’s reformist president is heading to the United States to tout his country’s makeover and push for an end to sanctions, in the first U.S. visit by a leader of the former international pariah since 1966.

Thein Sein leaves Burma on Monday to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

His trip ushers in a new chapter of Burma-U.S. relations, capping a wave of economic and political reforms put in place since he became president last year following almost half a century of military rule.

The trip comes as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi exits the American spotlight amid her first trip to the U.S. in 40 years. The Nobel Peace Prize winner met last week with President Barack Obama and received awards in Washington, New York and elsewhere.